Salts of two pentahalo(N‐donor)­bismuthate(III) anions: [BiX5L]2− (X = Cl,Br; L = pyridine, 4‐picoline)

Two pentahalo(N‐donor)­bismuthate(III) salts, bis­[hydrogen bis(4‐picoline)(1+)] penta­bromo(4‐picoline‐N)bismuthate(III), (C₁₂H₁₅N₂)₂[BiBr₅(C₆H₇N)], (I), and bis­(pyridinium) penta­chloro­(pyridine‐N)­bismuthate(III), (C₅H₆N)₂[BiCl₅(C₅H₅N)], (II), are described which show modest deviations from octahedral geometry at bismuth. In (I), the cations comprise two 4‐picoline mol­ecules sharing a proton and in (II), pyridinium cations are present. The anion in (I) has twofold and that in (II) has mirror crystallographic symmetry. Both structures show a layered packing formed by the anions with the cations between the layers. Ring–ring interactions seem important in (I), whilst in (II), N/­C—H?Cl—Bi hydrogen bonding is abundant.     

The oxidative conversion of the N,S-bridged complexes [{RhLL'(μ-X)}2] to [(RhLL')3)(μ-X)2]+ (X = mt or taz): a comparison with the oxidation of N,N-bridged analogues

The structures of [{RhLL'(μ-X)}(2)] [LL' = cod, (CO)(2), (CO)(PPh(3)) or {P(OPh)(3)}(2); X = mt or taz], prepared from [{RhLL'(μ-Cl)}(2)] and HX in the presence of NEt(3), depend on the auxiliary ligands LL'. The head-to-tail arrangement of the two N,S-bridges is accompanied by a rhodium-eclipsed conformation for the majority but the most hindered complex, [{Rh[P(OPh)(3)](2)(μ-taz)}(2)], uniquely adopts a sulfur-eclipsed structure. The least hindered complex, [{Rh(CO)(2)(μ-mt)}(2)], shows intermolecular stacking of mt rings in the solid state. The complexes [{RhLL'(μ-X)}(2)] are chemically oxidised to trinuclear cations, [(RhLL')(3)(μ-X)(2)](+), most probably via reaction of one molecule of the dimer, in the sulfur-eclipsed form, with the fragment [RhLL'](+) formed by oxidative cleavage of a second.